


Deep Waters

by StupidPotato159



Category: Sonic the Hedgehog - All Media Types
Genre: Gay Panic, Little Mermaid AU, M/M, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-09
Updated: 2020-08-30
Packaged: 2021-03-04 19:41:30
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,195
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25171780
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/StupidPotato159/pseuds/StupidPotato159
Summary: Mermaids arent allowed to interact with the land above,much less the Prince.but what if he got a little bit too tied up?
Relationships: Shadow the Hedgehog/Sonic the Hedgehog
Comments: 12
Kudos: 52





	1. Dangerous Beginnings

It was a Friday.

A horrible one.

First, he was woken up by Sonia, and could barely get his bearing before his sister took his hand and pulled him to the sitting room.

God, did he hate mornings. The halls were filled with commotion, everything seemed loud and he couldn't handle how people woke up at eight in the morning.

Sonia dragged him to a wall of vanities each decorated to the three royal children's desire. Sonia's was just decorated with a bit of pink fluff glued to the rim of the mirror, Sonic's was covered in stickers and Manic's, his brother who was already there and trying to get his quills to not be a disaster as always, had like, three pairs of drumsticks taped to his mirror? Sonic didn't understand it.

He was dragged over by Sonia and forced to sit down, light blue tail swishing against magenta as he swatted at Sonia's hands, already armed with a brush. "Let me do it!"

"You always do a horrible job, I can tell."

"No I don't!! My quills are fine!"

"Hah, yes,  _ fine _ ." Sonia rolled her eyes and continued to tend to Sonic's quills, getting the bed head untangled and into a reasonable enough fashion before going to her own seat.

Sonic paused, considering before stealing a heart-shaped hairpin that matched his tail from Sonia's desk, swimming out before Sonia could even investigate what he took and clipped it to his ear carefully, smiling.

He flicked his tail a bit, tapping his hip as he thought of what to do today. _The concert's_ __s_ ometime today, why do I have to be in that… I could go find Tails? _

He nodded to himself, swimming out and heading towards Tails' place. 

His friend lived on the outskirts of the town and would take an hour for someone of normal status to swim there, but lucky for him it only took a few minutes. No one really knew why he could go so fast, but he was thankful for it and only came at the cost of kicking up way too much sand if he was low to the seafloor.

The house was quite nice for the small being; a wood cabin that had a coral base and was really a sweet thing, even sweeter with his two friends that lived here.

Sonic knocked on the door, floating back and smiling as he saw his favorite kitsune open the door, orange tail flicking in time with the softer namesakes behind him.

"Heya Tails! Is Knux asleep?" Tails nodded, rubbing his eyes with a small yawn as he let Sonic in. "I was asleep too, before you came...why do you always wake up so early?"

"Hey, not my fault. My sister wakes me up. I hate that damn place.."

"I've never understood why."

"It's.... not important, don't worry." Sonic did not want to talk about his hatred of being royalty, even if it was pleasant to live in a palace.

That's the thing. He hates… everything about being royalty to Atlantica, always being looked up too. He was looked up to as the Prince of Atlantica, not Sonic. Why can't he just be Sonic?

Sonic realized he was dazing out, glad he thought just as fast as he swam and quickly thought up something to say before Tails questioned him.

"Speaking of, I totally forgot to eat before I ran over here…?" Tails just sighed at Sonic's apologetic grin. Going to his kitchen, he grabbed a package of seaweed and threw it at Sonic, who quickly tore it open with a 'thanks'.

Tails bolted over to Knuckle's room in the meantime, entering without a care, the door slamming into the wall, watching with a small giggle when Knuckles fell out of his bed.

"C'mon, I got a cool place to visit today. I mapped it out specifically for when Sonic was over."

Knuckles looked up from the floor, chuckling as he got up and brushed himself off, going to his dresser and taking one of the many hair ties to put his quills up. "Isn't it always when Sonic is over?"

Tails just rolled his eyes with a small tsk, going to his room to grab the map. The action prompted the merman to lean out of the door with a grin. "You never denied it~!"

Tails came out and just grabbed the red-furred idiot, a map in the other hand as they walked back to Sonic, now lounging in the 'air', hands behind his head.

"So, what's this I hear about a map?"

"I heard about a ship used by the land mobians. It recently sunk, so there might be some super cool stuff there." Tails laid out the piece of paper, taking out a marker to demonstrate the path. "We just swerve around the palace, go straight and take a right at the nearest current."

"When can we get there?"

"Uh, about noon."

"Three hours? That's pretty close."

"You do know you're the only one around fascinated with mobians and humans, don't you?"

"Well-yeah, but what if sharks decided to claim it, Knuckles?" Sonic pouted, huffing and crossing his arms. Tails stepped in, grabbing the map and tapping his shoulder.

"We better get over there before they do. Plus, you can outswim them."

"Right."  
  


* * *

  
Sonic swam up to the area, sighing as he waited for the two slowpokes behind him. Knuckles all but knocked him over coming at full speed, making them spin through the water on impact, while Tails was just swimming carefully over.

"We should be quiet; there might be sharks over here." Tails huffed, watching the two now laughing mermen as he put away the map, looking around. Sonic was the one to stop laughing first, swimming straight up to the wreck. It was a mighty ship he could tell, looking over it with sparkling eyes.

"Who cares if there's sharks. If you're so worried just stay out here on the lookout while we two  _ men _ go check it out~"

"I-I'm a man!"

"No you aren't, you're a child with the ability to fix every pipe in the Atlantic Sea, there's a difference." Knuckles put an arm atop Tails' head pointedly, before being grabbed and pulled toward the wreck. "Whatever, when I tell you-"

"If?" Sonic corrected, smirking.

"... _ If _ I tell you there's a shark, you gotta get out, alright? No arguing." The two boys nodded, mirroring the excitement of adventure. Sonic swam in first through one of the windows of the cargo area, Knuckles swimming in after to get stuck, arms flailing in an attempt to get through.

"Hah, you look a bit stuck there."

"I have a big build, say nothing of it and help me! It's not my fault I'm stronger than your skinny a-" Knuckles received a glare before realizing Tails might hear the swear, sighing irritatedly. "Just help me!"

"Fine, fine Red." Sonic grabbed Knuckles's arms and pulled, huffing. Three tries later and Knuckles flew in, bonking into Sonic for the second time. Sonic leaned out to look at the nervous Tails, grinning with confidence. "We'll be right in and out, just call if you see a shark, right?"

"Right. I swear, if you take more than ten minutes-"

"We won't, have some confidence pal!" Sonic shot a few finger guns at Tails, going back inside to look around. Knuckles was already gone, to the left if the sounds of crashing objects were anything so he went around the stairs, searching the ship for objects. He quickly found one and gasped; this was perfect for his collection! What was it again? Oh well, he can always ask Tails later - a fork, he'd later find out - found a few more trinkets and stored them, happy with his findings.

All of a sudden he heard a shout, going back just in time to see Tails fly in, Knuckles coming a few moments later. "Finally decide to join?"

"N-no! Shark! There's a shark out there and it saw me and it's coming, a-and we gotta get out before it destroys the ship with us inside!!" Just as he said that, there was a loud snarl followed by a large set of jaws biting straight through the wood, pieces flying everywhere.

Sonic figured out what to do within a second, grabbing Knuckles and swimming as fast as he could tugging along Knuckles. "C'mon, this way!" He went up the stairs, only to be trapped again and went down to the right, checking to see Tails was keeping pace using his tails as a propeller.

Unfortunately, the shark was also keeping pace, almost nipping Tails' namesake multiple times. Sonic got an idea, full-well knowing it was dangerous and swam straight to the back of the ship, throwing Knuckles out of the way. "Tails, move!"

Tails did so without thinking, the shark easily retargeting to Sonic. The blue-finned merman waited until he could extend his arm and touch the animal's nose, then darted to the side and watched as the shark smashed through the wreck, spinning out and getting dazed.

Sonic just grabbed Knuckles' hand and swam out again, Tails following quickly and leaving the shark behind before it could get any of them.

Once they were far away, Sonic stopped giggling like a madman. "T-That was fun, we should do that again sometime!" Knuckles looked disconcerted.

"You almost got gobbled by a shark, and so did Tails!"

"But we didn't...?" That just earned some glares and Sonic quickly rethought. "Fine, fine. I gotta go put this stuff in my collection, you wanna join?"

Tails and Knuckles mirrored a shrug. "Sorry Sonic, I gotta help Ms.Vanilla with chores. I promised her."

"I gotta help out Queen Aleena as well, she said she would need help today."

"When doesn't she?"

"The days you don't leave the palace."

"....fair. See ya guys!" Sonic did a mock-salute and swam away, glad he could go fast now that he didn't have to wait for Knuckles specifically, to play catch up. It only took about half an hour to get to his spot from how far away he had been, pushing away a large boulder and going inside.

It was a dome-like area with shelf after shelf going up to the top, lined with objects all over. Sonic got out the objects he had gathered; a jar, a locket, a pipe, and a fork. He put the former items away, sighing when he picked up the fork and sat down.

Every merfolk he met had told him the world above was bad, to not interact, that it was a horrible place filled with horrible people. "That's just not true, is it?" Sonic sighed to himself, going in between thoughts and words. "Sure, you guys...blow up stuff, and kill fishies, and hunt us down, but- _ " ...that doesn't make you  _ _ bad _ _ , necessarily. _

"It's more like you want to explore and use violent ways to do it, right? You're so interesting, making weird things to do strange tasks. Half of this stuff doesn't even make sense." Sonic moved to lay on his back. _ That's what makes it so great... _

Jeez, he felt… bad. At least there was no one around to see him rant endlessly like an idiot. "But  _ noo _ , I'm suddenly the worst just because I'm fascinated with people without fins. What's so bad about that? How can you guys be bad?"

"Look at this stuff, isn't it neat? Wouldn't you think my collection's complete?" Sonic put the fork he was holding where it belonged in between a knife and a spoon, smiling. "Wouldn't you think I'm the guy, who's got everything?"

Sonic spun around, swimming around his area slowly and his smile turning a bit brighter. "Look at this trove, treasures untold, how many wonders can one cavern hold?"  _ A lot, apparently. _

"Lookin’ around here you'd think, sure, I've got everything~" The blue merman swam up and grabbed a few hanging lockets, admiring them with a shrug. "I've got gadgets and gizmos aplenty, I've got whozits and whatzits galore." Sonic swam to a box he had, opening it to admire all the weirdly shaped screws inside. "You want thingamabobs? I got twenty."

Sonic then frowned, sighing yet again and put the items away. "But who cares? No big deal... So why do I want more~?"

"I wanna be, where the people are. I want to see, want to see 'em dancin!" Sonic spun over to a small trinket, a pedestal music box of sorts with a girl in a frilly dress spinning with a man, turning it slowly. "Walkin’ around on those,"  _...What are they again?  _ "Oh yeah, feet!"

The hedgehog hybrid looked to his tail, getting a bit bummed. "Flippin' your fins doesn't get too far..." Sonic started doing the actions he was saying the best he could, exaggerating them. "Legs are required for jumpin’, and dancin’, strolling along down a..."  _ what's the word?  _ "Street?"  _ Sounds about right. _

Sonic started swimming up to the top, taking his time with it while he was sulkily singing to himself. "Up where they walk, up where they run, up where they stay all day in the sun! Wish I could be part of that world..." Sonic let himself float down, rolling his eyes at himself.

"What would I give, if I could live, outta this water?"

_ Anything. _

"What would I pay, to spend a day, warm on the sand?"

_ Ookay maybe not anything, heat sucks but almost. _

Sonic hit the floor and was reminded of his family. "Bet'cha on land they understand-!"

"Bet they don't reprimand their sons.."  _ Did I even pronounce that right? Probably.  _ "Bright young women, sick of swimming, ready to stand..!" Sonic was hit with a surge of confidence and swam up to the top, smile coming back a bit cocky. He picked up a book along his way, the pages somehow not soggy and torn despite being much different than the materials they used down in the water.

"Ready to know what the people know, asking my questions and get some answers!" Sonic put the book down, well more of chucked it but similar enough. His eyes flew to a painting of a pretty lady sitting in front of a candle. "Like what's a fire, and why does it-"  _ What's the word?  _ "burn~?"

Sonic started to get a bit angry, remembering how it felt to be pulled under the water time after time by Knuckles  _ right _ before he saw a mobian, right before he could talk to one. It was frustrating. "When's it my turn?! Wouldn't I love, love to explore that shore up above?" Sonic reached the top, smile turning sad at the hole being just enough to not fit through, sticking his hand out in hope.

"Out of that sea… Wish I could be.. Part of that, world~"Sonic slowly fell down until he hit the ocean floor, sighing.

All of a sudden he heard a loud clunk, followed by a groan and whipped around to see Knuckles. "Knux! What're you doing here, you said you were gonna help Mom, r-right?"

The merman tried to shake himself off, narrowing his eyes at the other. "That's what I was planning to do, until she said to keep an eye on you and come back to you daydreaming about being a mobian up there?! What the hell!"  _ Ooh no. _

"You're so lucky I haven't told Queen Aleena about this place, she would never approve. I'm thinking maybe I should now." Sonic panicked at Knuckles' threat, swimming up and grabbing his shoulders. "No, please don't! You know I've spent years on this place, don't make it disappear again!"

Knuckles only scoffed, pushing Sonic away. "You know I wouldn't, but it's always a possibility. Stop stepping out of line. We should get you home, you know what you missed?"

"W-what?"

"Your concert. Everyone's pissed about it, if you come home now you might be able to escape-" Knuckles was cut off by Sonic gasping and pointing upwards, swimming outside and up immediately. "What's that?"

"I don't know, but I would suggest-annnd he's gone. Great." Knuckles folded his arms as he watched Sonic leave, rolling his eyes. Up there was a giant boat, making Sonic gasp. It was shooting off these weird colors that looked awesome, the night sky making whatever lit up festivities too wonderful to ignore.

He swam up to the ship, looking up and climbing up the small riffs up the side until he reached a small hole, smiling at what he saw.

There were people dancing, drinking, playing instruments that looked confusing, and not even his soggy quills and fur could distract him from the amazing sight, drifting over the crowd until he spotted something. It was a Chao, he knew what the weird flying pet was called from books.

The small thing was a speed dark Chao, though with how happy it seemed it at least wasn't made a dark Chao with how it was taken care of. Sonic was glad for that, he understood enough from books that well taken care of Chao represent their caretaker, not their treatment.

The Chao - sniffed? - the air, and Sonic watched as the small thing stumbled over, sniffing at him. Sonic just smiled and lifted up a hand to pat the others head, gasping when it stepped off and fell, Sonic catching the small being.

That's when he noticed the Chao was blind, the normally bright blue's decreased to a light grey. Sonic patted the other's head, smiling even more when the Chao cooed at him.

Sonic suddenly heard someone calling for a 'Sprocket,' assuming that was the little guy's name and set him down, giving him a gentle push back inside the ship.

Sprocket went all the way until he was picked up by an amusingly similarly-colored mobian, cooing and nuzzled into his chest and  _ holy crap. _

Sonic didn't know he could crush on a guy so fast, but that guy is  _ adorable. _ His quills floating up by a seemingly constant bad hair day and that smile, so gentle that you could tell from one look how special it was. His shirt,  _ holy fuck his shirt was tight _ , it showed how well built he was perfectly, sleeved rolled up to show striped arms and dark red pants accenting his attire, bringing out his eyes even more.

Sonic felt his face heat up at the sight, smiling dreamily. God, he was such a crusher, but crushing on such a dreamboat was totally worth it.

Sonic dazed out, daydreaming and before he knew it, Shadow was sitting down on a crate, playing a soft tune on the flute for Sprocket, the boio quickly falling asleep despite all the distractions on the hedgehog's shoulder.

Sonic saw a bat come out after a few moments, the girl smirking as she saw the commotion slowing dying down at her arrival. "Simmer down, everyone~" The girl was wearing something very, ehm..enticing; a large black bow placed across one of her ears and a short wine dress to accompany it, a large heart locket drawing eyes directly to her bust, accidental or not. "It is now my honor and privilege to present our esteemed Prince Shadow with a very special, very expensive, very large birthday present." Her tone was sarcastic, obviously some inside joke Sonic didn't get.

Shadow just nodded, that special smile gone from his face. "You… shouldn't have. What is it, Rouge?"

Rouge went over and pulled off the tarp of a large object, it being shown to be a large sculpture of the other. It was very accurate, but not very accurate of Shadow himself, showing him wearing a plate of armor in a very heroic pose. _ He was a prince, not a great knight. _ Shadow thought to himself, barely restraining himself from insulting the object in favor of it being from his friend. "It's… It's something, thank you."

"Thank you, I commissioned it myself~" The girl looked quite proud, but that suddenly turned into a glare. "Of course, I had heard it was to be a  _ wedding _ gift."

Shadow growled at that, rolling his eyes. "Can you stop pushing about that? I don't want a princess, they're all… plastic."

"Not all of them are."

"Most of them are."

"Well, that means there's one that isn't, Shads~"

"Yeah? Well, I'm not finding them. The girl who's like that won't want a guy like me, so drop it." Shadow walked over to the side Sonic was on and he quickly pressed himself to the side, hoping his fin wasn't noticed. There was a dragged out sigh, followed by a sharp inhale. "Please."

"... Alright, you know I'm just worried about you. I want to see you happy."

"I know you do, I respect you for it. But this isn't one of those things you can just make happen, Rouge."

"... Right, I get it. If you ever need me to score you a princess though, you know I can~"

"Thank you Rouge. If I ever need the offer, I'll take it." Sonic heard clunky heels walk away, followed by a sigh that made Sonic's heart crumble. "God, I'm a hopeless wreck, strike me dead."

Suddenly Shadow heard thunder, looking out in the distance to see a storm. "....I should stop asking for things."

Within a few minutes, there was absolute panic, waves crashing onto the deck and the wheel unhandled as everyone desperately tried to reach the wheel. Sonic was gripping on as much as he could, a particularly big wave was suddenly taking him down into the depths.

He quickly recovered, looking up just in time to see a large strike of lightning hit the sail, lighting it up in flames. He saw crew members fly off, quickly diving down and watching from under.

Shadow pulled Rouge onto the raft, sighing. "Jeez, is that everyone?" Shadow looked back at the ship only for eyes to widen, cursing. 

Sprocket was still on the ship. Sprocket, the  _ blind _ Chao he loved to death, was on a  _ burning _ ship.

Shadow dived into the water, swimming to the ship and desperately climbing up onto it. He narrowly avoided a burning pillar by dodging to the left, desperately looking for his boi(boy?) only to find him blocked off by a ring of fire.

Sprocket was babbling loudly, tears at the corners of his eyes, head-turning when he heard his owner's voice. "Sprocket! Jump!"

Shadow was holding his arms out, desperately hoping he would catch the other. Sprocket paused, confused only to feel a sudden jolt of heat hit his arm and jumped without question, whining when he landed in Shadow's arms and was moved to his head, clinging tightly to the mobians ears.

Shadow ran and jumped into the water, making sure to keep the Chao above water until he got to the lifeboat, handing Sprocket over.  
  
He tried to get on the boat only to realize he didn't have the stamina, weakly splashing as he saw his mates and friends get slowly farther and farther away, until he blacked out.  


* * *

  
Shadow woke up with a warm heat on his back, the first thing he hears being the most angelic thing he's ever been blessed to hear.

_ "-Just you and me, and I could be, part of your world~" _

He opened his eyes to see a blue hedgehog, bright emerald eyes absolutely enchanting. The hedgehog seemed to panic at seeing him awake, because when Shadow blinked the next moment the blue mobian was gone.

He sat up after a second and looked around, only to see nobody within the entire beach.

_ I gotta find that voice. _


	2. Wash-Up Mysteries

Shadow paced around on the beach, ranting to Rouge."I-I swear, it was real!"

"Honey, no one has access to this beach unless they walk through the castle or wash up on shore, like you."

"But-Rouge, they saved me. You _know_ I would’ve drowned, that’s at least 400 feet out. Just because the prince can beat the national track team doesn’t mean they can beat the national swim team. _And that voice...."_

"..wh-voice?"

"Yeah, it was the most beautiful thing I’ve heard."Shadow looked out to the ocean, doing a double-take when he swore he saw a person behind that rock only to spot nothing and sighed."I want to find them. they;"

"...its the one."

Rouge smirked at that, patting Shadow’s shoulder with a smile. "Sure, you lovesick dope. Let’s go, I’m sure breakfast is ready and Sprocket has been freaking out about you."

* * *

The entire day felt...off. Shadow couldn’t get why, and people definitely noticed that the 'asshole prince' was being a little paranoid.

Shadow was stuck in his room at the moment, door locked and holding Sprocket close, listening to the little Chao babble and coo into his shoulder with one arm draped over his eyes and the other petting the Chao.

He couldn’t get that stupid voice out of his head. It was so....he couldn’t even think of how to describe it. The voice could’ve been anyone as well. He thought he saw blue fur, but it seemed wet-no, it was wet, obviously. But it could’ve been any shade of blue, could be any mobian, could be any gender. Hell, he might’ve been seeing the sky and not the mobian, who knew.

Suddenly he felt Sprocket tap his shoulder, poking it and looking down only to see the boy carefully flutter over the glass doors on the opposite side of the wall, bonking into them."...What? something out there?"

Shadow got up and patted Sprocket’s head, opening the door and walking out, guiding the Chao over to the railing and looking around, sighing deeply and squinting down to the shore, not expecting to see anything.

Wait, was there someone down there? Why were there people down there? He could see an orange fox and a red..hedgehog?maybe a mix? Then there was a..blue hedgehog, their quills just barely noticeable through the rocks.

Shadow groaned, wondering how someone got past the castle to the little area and calling a maid down there, watching as a girl ran down and came up from the beach with someone in her arms.

Shadow ran out of his room and down the castle until he reached the ground floor and to the kitchen back door, huffing as the maid was already there, waiting.

"What is this about, Evony?"

"i-i don't know, sir. when I got there there was only this male outside, and he collapsed into my arms.it might be best to let him stay here for the night, and send him off in the morning?"

Shadow looked to the hedgehog brought in, resting soundly in her arms. he had a few feminine features, perhaps nobody wanted to deal with him anymore.

"..fine.I'm going back to bed."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this time ill be updating next week,chapters from now on will probably be around 1000-1500!hooray!


	3. Start The Timer

There was a bit of mishap in the morning.

Sonic woke up by someone gently nudging him, huffing and opening his eyes blearily. _Sonia...?_

Standing there was a girl with short black hair, freckles, and a small smile, waving. "sir, wake up. I'm afraid you can't sleep in."

Sonic blinked once, twice, before nodding blankly as he slowly caught up. he had been turned into a land mobian, lost his voice, and passed out on the beach. wherever he was, it seemed high class.

the blue hedgehog got up, swinging his legs (oh my god he had legs?) from side to side, getting up and immediately falling into the girl's arms, the girl almost losing her footing. "oh, are you alright?!"

Sonic nodded, unsure of what else to do. he had been required to learn sign language as a prince, maybe somebody else here knew ASL. the girl was confused for a long bit, waiting for a verbal response before sighing lightly."do you need help walking?"

another nod and Sonic were heavily supported through the halls, looking at the girl's steps and back at his own legs to try and copy the movements.

it was so grand, every window dressed with pieces of fabric and pulled to the side, open to show the bright, _very sunny_ world outside. he could feel the heat from every pane as he walked by, it was new. everything was new, it was amazing! the ground below was soft on his feet and he could feel the weight of his body battling with gravity and yet he felt fine, despite his lower limbs not being in much control.

soon they got to a room that was even prettier than the halls, flooded with light from a giant window high up, shining on what looked to be a pool of water. he didn't understand why there was a giant tub of water, quickly derailed before he could think more. there were so many people, he could see one more girl dressed like the maid and the rest seemed to be male maids, what was the word?...butlers?around the room, all dressed the same as well. the room was lined with racks of clothing, perhaps for after the water?

Sonic noticed the girl who led him here let go of his hand and was talking to another blonde girl, deciding to tune in and fold his hands behind his back."...irhead, you guys shouldn't have too hard of a time."

"Thanks. are you going to be able to join me at lunch later?"

"hopefully. I gotta go, don't wait for me!" the black-haired girl waved goodbye and walked out, Sonic briefly wondering how she pushed those very big doors open by herself.

Sonic jumped when he was taken by the hand and pushed into the water, ears folding down as he quickly realized what was happening. the bath was long, and he did not understand how he had _this much_ sand in his fur, and he hated every second of it. he came here to be out of the water, not in!

soon it was over and he was lead out, mouth opening in a silent yelp and falling into one of the men's arms. they dried him off quickly, huffing when he was forced to sit down.no one even bothered to talk to him or tell him what was happening, it wasn't like he was deaf! Sonic folded his arms, looking up when he saw the blonde girl from before in front of him. "is something wrong?"

Sonic unfolded his arms, pausing for a second to get his bearings because he hadn't used sign language in years before quickly signing an answer. _'im confused.'_ he saw she was puzzled, tilting her head before running off. _should've known no one knew sign language here._

Sonic was bored within seconds, getting up and doing his best to stumble over to the clothing before getting stopped. behind him was one of the butlers with an armful of clothes, offering them to him. Sonic looked to the other side of the room and noticed something immediately.

On one side of the room, there were bland, plain pairs of clothes on racks, similar to the one the man was holding, and on the other side, there was so much more. frilly articles of clothing he knew were meant for girls. after all, mermaids he knew sometimes wore frilly tops or much less frilly dresses when at a special event.

 _oh but there were so many colors._ everything was beautiful and not boring, and Sonic found himself drawn toward a dress in particular. it was a bright pink with what looked to sparkles on the dress when the light hit it, puffy short sleeves and white fluff in the bottom and on the sleeves, making it look comfortable and classy. Sonic pointed to the dress he wanted to wear, trying to convey what he wanted.

that same blonde girl from before ran up, visibly confused." sir, are you sure you want to wear that?"

Sonic nodded quickly, smiling. the staff looked between themselves for a moment before shrugging, helping him into the outfit and giving him some matching sneakers seeing as he could barely walk as it was without the fancy shoes.

it was more than frustrating how slow he walked, if not for the fact he couldn't walk 96% of the time in the first place.

This time it was the blonde girl who led him around, a quiet walk until they reached the room. There were candles around the room, unlit with a few people there. And by few I mean the love of his life and a bat-girl he recognized from the ship was sitting down, playing with a small Chao with another butler standing at the door.

"Prince Shadow? the boy from last night has arrived."Sonic saw Shadow look over with a blank look, smiling and doing a quick wave. Shadow looked indifferent, waving off the girl and then waving him over after.

Sonic quickly got over to a chair across from Shadow, settling down and looking at the table, quickly flashing his eyes up every once in a while to check on the two in front of them. The bat-girl looked surprised with a small smirk, looking Sonic up and down. Sonic only tilted his head, making her chuckle. "Why, you're a curious one. What's your name sweetie~?"

Sonic paused, before signing. _'Sonic?'_ Sonic frowned when he saw neither of them understood, huffing. Eventually, Shadow spoke up, and Sonic was starting to get concerned that Shadow's face was still blank."...Can you write?"

A quick nod followed and Sonic rested his head in his hands. "Rouge, can you get a notepad?"

"Get up yourself~"

".....You know I don't know where that stuff is."

"Hmph, fine, you're doing it next time though." Rouge got up and walked off, Sonic scoffing when he saw Rouge just go to a butler and ask him, quickly retrieving one and a pencil. Sonic wrote his name down and slid it to Shadow, smiling. "Sonic? Your name is Sonic?" Another quick nod and Sonic could see a fleeting smile, or at least he thought he did for a second. "How did you end up on that beach?"

Sonic took the notepad again, trying to make sure his handwriting was better from now on. _' washed up on the shore, I don't remember much.'_ Shadow read it aloud, huffing. "Alright, I think you should stay here. We're going into town later to see if anyone recognizes you until then."

Sonic suddenly saw a couple of maids wander into the room, all holding plates, and smiled. _O_ _h, that smells good!  
  
_

* * *

  
Breakfast was a disaster. Sonic didn't know what a fork was and inspected every little thing. Worse is when they asked why he didn't know what they were, he just said he came from a very different place, but couldn't put a name or location to it. Needless to say, very confusing.

The only saving grace is he seemed to know table manners or a little bit of them. He didn't rest his elbows on the table when there was food and he didn't eat with his hands, instead opting to use the fork and messily try.

After breakfast Sonic was lead by Shadow, giving him a tour of the castle. It had three floors, the first being the entrance and the ballroom, from which you could go up to the second floor, left to a hallway of rooms Shadow hadn't bothered to explain or right to an amazing dining hall, which indirectly funneled into a kitchen and back door leading to the beach.   
  
The second floor had a large, almost living room entrance area before leading to a mess of rooms. If you looked around the corner there was the dining room they had eaten at, and to the right of that lead to another kitchen. _What's up with that, why multiple kitchens?_ In almost any direction there were rooms which Sonic were told lead to things like getting ready for the day and getting prepared for events ad meetings. Sonic just thought it was weird, then again they had the same thing at his castle. Shadow quickly lead Sonic out, stating the third floor was just rooms for guests and the people who live here.

Sonic was handed a short coat when lead outside, gasping at the outside. It was so beautiful! Sure, he'd thought the sandy beaches and bright blue sky was pretty, but this was just outstanding. There was a dirt path leading straight ahead, lined with bright green grass that was oh my gosh, it was so soft. Ahead he could see trees, trying to run off before being yanked back by a grumpy Shadow before he could fall. "god, can you stop for two seconds?"

Sonic took out the notepad he was given, writing on it for a few seconds."...I'm curious?"

"Whatever, just watch yourself. the goal of this is to get you out of here, not to view the world with 'wonder' and 'mystery.'"Sonic couldn't argue as Shadow started roughly pulling him by the hand, sighing and picking up his dress with one hand in case it trailed across the ground.

"..Hey, what's your favorite color, Shadow?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> heya pals! it is 9/25/20 today,and i have a little announcement! life has been kicking my ass.i have 4 a ton of stories I'm trying to write as well as school to catch up on,and its getting a bit hectic!i might not update until after Christmas,but this story gets frequently updated and so next time I ost a chapter,ill tell you if I updated any of the previous as I'm not too happy with them.thanks for reading this and have a wonderful day,night,week and year!


End file.
